March 31, 2026

Manitoba’s Bill 48 empowers police to target individuals of perceived drug intoxication and detain them for 3 days in solitary confinement. How does the expansion of involuntary detention and forced detox, made possible through Bill 48, deepen colonial harm? In this Brief, Sage Broomfield and Sidney Leggett argue that Bill 48 advances carceral colonialism under the guise of care – expanding police power, sanctioning confinement and displacing Indigenous-led harm reduction with punitive, ineffective, and life-threatening interventions.